Saudi cell 'slaughtered' Italian, Swede: website

Al Qaeda, in a purported statement carried on an Islamist website, said on Sunday its militants in Saudi Arabia had "slaughtered" an Italian and a Swedish hostage in the oil city of Khobar.

"In one of the hotels, the mujahideen took captive several Westerners and killed them, including an Italian and a Swede who were slaughtered," said the Arabic-language statement signed by the "Al Qaeda network in the Arabian Peninsula".

It also detailed the sequence of the attack on the oil firms and residential compounds in the city in which at least 17 people were killed on Saturday. The statement vowed to rid the Arabian peninsula of "infidels".

Saudi security officials said Saudi commandos had rescued most of the 50 foreign hostages being held by gunmen in a compound on Sunday. They said some of the hostages had been killed but gave no details.

An earlier Internet statement purportedly from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda had said it carried out the unprecedented hostage-taking.